Electromagnetically operated multistage flag indicator



Dec. 17, 1968 FUMIO ANDO ETAL ELECTROMAGNETICALLY OPERATED MULTISTAGEFLAG INDICATOR Filed Aug. 15. 1966 4 Sheets-Shea. 1

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ELECTROMAGNETICALLY OPERATED MULTISTAGE FLAG INDICATOR Filed Aug. 15,1966 4 Sheets-Sheer, 2

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ELECTROMAGNETICALLY OPERATED MULTISTAGB FLAG INDICATOR Filed Aug. 15,1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 29 FIG. 10

United States Patent 3,417,391 ELECTROMAGNETICALLY OPERATED MULTI- STAGEFLAG INDICATOR Fumio Ando, Hidekazu Okada, and Tooru Mogi, Tokyo, Japan,assignors to Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co., Ltd.,

Kawasaki-shi, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Aug. 15, 1966, Ser.No. 572,510 Claims priority, application Japan, Aug. 20, 1965, 40/50,792 6 Claims. (Cl. 340376) This invention relates to a multistageflag target adapted to indicate operating conditions of controlled meanssuch as electrical or mechanical machinery and apparatus, and moreparticularly to a multistage flag target wherein upon receiving asignal, for example, a signal which indicates the occurrence of faults,from a controlled means, a first indicating plate or flag is operatedand in case where the fault indicating signal is supplied continuouslyan indication for confirming the presence of faults is provided.

More particularly, according to this invention there is provided amultistage flag target comprising an electromagnet and an armaturedisposed to oppose the electromagnet. In response to the operation andstate of the armature the positions of a first flag and a second flagare determined so as to provide visible indications concerning theoperating condition of the controlled means and confirmation of saidoperating condition.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved multistage flagtarget of simple construction and in which flags are not supported byresilient mechanism.

This invention provides a multistage flag target comprising a base, anelectromagnet supported by said base and adapted to be energized bysignals from a controlled means, an armature located on said base to beattractable by said electromagnet, a first flag movable substantially inthe vertical direction, a second flag located under said first flag andmovable substantially in the vertical direction, means to support saidfirst flag on said armature when said electromagnet is deenergized andcause said first flag to disengage said armature and drop when saidelectromagnet is energized, confirming means which when actuatedoperates to push up both of said flags and means to support said secondflag on said armature when said second flag is pushed up by saidconfirming means during the period of energization of said electromagnetwhereby the position of said flags indicates the condition of saidcontrolled means or the confirmation of said condition.

The foregoing and other features of the invention will be evident fromthe following description concerning two typical types of multistageflag targets embodying this invention taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a plan view, partly in section, of one embodiment of thisinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side view, partly in section, of the embodiment shown inFIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 to 5 indicate side views of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and2 to explain various operating conditions thereof;

FIG. 6 shows a side view, partly broken away, of a modified embodimentof this invention;

FIG. 7 shows a partial side view of a modified latch means;

FIG. 8 shows a partial plan view of another example of the latch means;

FIG. 9 shows a front view of the latch means shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a partial side view illustrating a modified flag; and

FIGS. 11 and 12 show partial side views of two modiifiled constructionsof combined confirming means and Referring now to the accompanyingdrawings, the multistage flag target constructed according to thisinvention and shown in FIG. 1 comprises an electromagnet 21 including anelectric coil 23 wound upon a magnetic core 22 and an armature 25. Uponenergization of the coil 23 the armature is attracted thereby to actuatea first and a second flag or indicators 26 and 27 to indicate theoperating condition of a controlled means (not shown) or to provideconfirmation indication of the operating condition as will be describedlater. The electromagnet 21 is secured to an electric insulative base 1positioned on the rear side thereof. An L-shaped yoke 2 is mounted onthe base 1 and the lower end of the armature 25 is pivotally mounted onthe inner end of the yoke 2 by means of a pin 24 to oppose theattraction or the inner end of the electromagnet 21. The armature 25 isbiassed by a coil spring 40 so as to be attracted by the core 22 whenthe coil 23 is energized, but disengaged from the core 22 when the coilis deenergized. In the construction shown, one end of the coil spring 40is connected to the armature 25 and the opposite end is connected to avertical extension 2a of the yoke 2, but the armature 25 may besupported by a leaf spring. A stop 41 is secured to the verticalextension to extend towards the armature 25 to limit the pivotalmovement thereof. A fixed indicating plate or flag 42 is secured on thefront surface of the vertical extension 2a to face a view window 43formed through the wall of a housing 3. Each of said flags 26 and 27 isprovided with a pair of side arms 28, 28 and 29, 29, respectively whichare pivotally mounted on a pair of side vertical extensions 2b of theyoke 2 by means of pins 30.

Vertically spaced hook shaped latch members 36 and 37 made of suitableresilient metal sheet are secured on the upper end of the armature 25. Alatch member 33 is provided for one of the arms 28 to cooperate with thelatch member 36. Similarly, another latch member 35 is provided for oneof the arms 29 to cooperate with the latch member 37. Latch members 33and 36 cooperate such that they are disengaged when the armature 25 isattracted by the electromagnet to permit the movable target 26 to pivotdownwardly around the pin 30 by its own weight. Whereas the latch member35 is arranged such that it will rise to flex the latch member 37 tillthey become locked when the arm 29 is rotated around the pin 39 in theclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 by a confirmation mechanism tobe described later when the armature 25 is held in its attractedposition. Further the arm 29 is provided with a supporting lug 34adapted to hold the arm 28 so that the indicating surface of the firstmovable flag 26 may assume a position facing to the inner side of theview window 43 when the flag 26 is permitted to fall downwardly by itsown weight. Whereas the lowest position of the second movable flag 27 isdetermined by an L-shaped stop 44 extending beneath the yoke 2. In theexample shown, the confirming mechanism utilized to push up the movabletarget 27 comprises an operating rod 4 which extends through the bottomwall of the housing 3 to be movable in the longitudinal direction, apusher member 39 secured on the upper end of the operating rod, a flange38 adapted to prevent the operating rod 4 from falling and a knobsecured to the outer end of the operating rod. The confirming mechanismmay also be termed as a reset mechanism since it operates to push up themovable target 26 through the second movable target 27,

after ithas previously been dropped by its own weight, and when theelectromagnet is deenergized, to raise the latch member 33 beyond thelatch member 36 to again support the movable flag 26 on the armature 25.A pair of contact supporting strips 31 and 32 are secured to the base 1to extend forwardly in an overlapped relation above the electromagnet.When the first movable flag 26 is supported on the armature or in aposition capable of being supported thereby, the first contactsupporting strip 31 is pushed upwardly by the latch member 33 of the arm28 for the movable flag 26 to separate contacts supported by the contactsupporting strips 31 and 32. On the other hand, when the flag 26 is inits dropped condition, as shown in FIG. 3 or 5, these contacts areclosed.

Upon occurrence of a fault in a controlled means, not shown, theelectromagnet 21 will be energized by an electric signal sent therefromto attract the armature 25 against the inner end of the core 22 againstthe force of the coil spring 40. Then, the first movable flag 26 will beL released to rotate downwardly in a substantially vertical plane aroundthe pin 30, under the effect of its own weight. FIG. 3 indicates thiscondition. Indications in the form of letters, symbols, colours,patterns and the like are provided on the surface of the first movabletarget 26 which faces the view window 43 so that the operator canconfirm the indication within the housing 3 through the window 43. Toindicate the fact that the occurrence of faults has been thus confirmedor to reset the movable target 26, the operator pushes upwardly thepusher element 39 by operating the knob of the confirmation mechanism.In case where the fault signal is continuously supplied to theelectromagnet 21, the movable target 26 will be moved upwardly by thesupporting lug 34 of the arm 29 for the second movable target 27 untilthe target 27 is supported by the armature with its latch member 35engaged with the latch member 37 on the armature 25, as shown in FIG. 4.Under this condition the indicating surface of the movable target 27 isfacing to the window 43 thus providing an indication of the fact thatfault was confirmed. Thus, other operators are prevented from re peatingthe fault confirming operation. If the fault disappears and theelectromagnet 21 is deenergized under this condition, the latch member35 of the movable target 27 disengages from the latch member 35 topermit the movable target 27 to drop whereby to permit the operator toview the fixed target through the window 43 to know the fact that thefault has cleared.

Where the fault signal is momentarily given to the electromagnet 21, thearmature 25 will assume a position as indicated in FIG. 5. As aconsequence, when urged upwardly by the pusher element 39, the movabletarget 26 will be reset to the condition shown in FIG. 2 with its latchmember 33 engaged with the latch member 36 on the armature. On the otherhand, when the pusher element 39 is released the movable target 27 willdrop to the position shown in FIG. 2 because its latch member 35 willnot be locked by the latch member 37. In this case the operator willview the fixed target through the window 43 and note that the fault ofthe controlled member is momentary and that the cause of the fault hasnow disappeared.

While in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the first and the secondmovable targets are shown to be pivotable vertically around the pin 30it is also possible to construct them to move vertically and straightly.Such a modification is shown in FIG. 6. In this modification a first andsecond movable target and 51 are slidably mounted on a vertical guidemember 5 extending upwardly from the yoke 2 in parallel with the frontsurface of the housing 3, thus bringing the indicating surfaces of thetargets 50 and 51 in closely opposing relation with respect to the viewwindow 43 perforated through the front surface of the housing 3. Theconstruction and arrangement of other parts are identical with those ofthe embodiment shown in FIG. 1 to 5, so that they are designated by thecorresponding numerals and description thereof is believed unnecessary.

While in the above embodiments the latch member 37 secured on thearmature to support the second movable target was shown as being made ofa resilient metal plate, it may be substituted by a pawl 54 which isnormally biassed to rotate in the direction of an arrow 53 by a torsionspring 52, as shown in FIG. 7. Alternatively, the latch member 37 may bemade of a non-resilient hard material and the latch member 35cooperating therewith may be substituted by a pawl 55 which normallybiasses the arm 29 of the second movable target 27 to rotate in thedirection of an arrow 56 under the action of a torsion spring 57, asshown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

in the modification shown in FIG. 10, the L-shaped stop 44 utilized inthe previous embodiments is eliminated, but the upper end of the secondmovable target 27 is bent inwardly to engage the lower end of the firstmovable target 26 whereby to limit the lower position thereof.

MG. 11 indicates a still further modification of the invention whereinthe confirming mechanism is so improved that it is operable from thefront side of the housing 3. Thus, a push rod 58 and a crank 59 areadded so that the displacement 64 of the press rod 58 may be transmittedto the operating rod 39 via the rotary motion of the crank 59.

In a still further modification shown in FIG. 12 there are provided aconvex cam 60 adjacent the pivot pin 30 of the arm 29 for the secondmovable target 27, an operating rod 61 with a head abutting against thecam and a restoring spring 62 which is inserted between the verticalextension of the yoke 2 and the knob of the operating rod 61. Thus, bypressing the knob the second movable target 27 is pivoted about the pin30.

Make and break of the contacts 45 supported by contact supporting strips31 and 32 are utilized to alarm the operator by operating an indicatinglamp, an electric bell or the like alarming device.

While the invention has been shown and described in terms of somepreferred embodiments thereof, it will be obvious to those skilled inthe art that many changes and modifications may be made within the truespirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is: p

1. A multistage fiag target comprising a base, an electromagnetsupported by said base and adapted to be energized by signals from acontrolled means, an armature located on said base to be attractable bysaid electromagnet, a first flag movable substantially in the verticaldirection, a second flag located under said first flag and movablesubstantially in the vertical direction, means to support said firstflag on said armature when said electromagnet is deenergized and causesaid first flag to disengage said armature and drop when saidelectromagnet is energized, confirming means which when actuatedoperates to push up both of said flags and means to support said secondflag on said armature when said second fiag is pushed up by saidconfirming means during the period of energization of said electromagnetwhereby the position of said flags indicates the condition of saidcontrolled means or the confirmation of said condition.

2. The multistage flag target according to claim 1 wherein said firstand second flags are supported by arms which are pivoted at a commonaxis.

3. The multistage flag target according to claim 1 wherein said armatureis provided with a pair of latch members and respective arms for saidfirst and second flag targets are provided with latch members engageablewith said first mentioned latch members.

4. The multistage flag target according to claim 1 wherein said firstand second flag targets are slidably mounted upon a vertical guidemember.

5. The multistage fiag target according to claim 1 wherein a pair ofcontact supporting strips are mounted on said base to support a pair ofcooperating contacts 5 6 which are closed when said first flag target issupported References Cited on said armature and are opened when saidflag target is UNITED STATES PATENTS not supported by said armature.

6. The multistage flag target according to claim 1 2,408,106 9/1946Steam 340 376 wherein said base is provided with a housing which en- 5closes said electromagnet, first and second targets, said JOHN CALDWELLPnmary housing being formed with a view window through its HAROLD PITTS,Assistant Examiner. front wall whereby the position of said flags viewedthrough said view window indicates the condition of said US. Cl. X.R.

controlled means or confirmation of said condition. 10 340-372

1. A MULTISTAGE FLAG TARGET COMPRISING A BASE, AN ELECTROMAGNETSUPPORTED BY SAID BASE ADAPTED TO BE ENERGIZED BY SIGNALS FROM ACONTROLLED MEANS, AN ARMATURE LOCATED ON SAID BASE TO BE ATTRACTABLE BYSAID ELECTROMAGNET, A FIRST FLAG MOVABLE SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE VERTICALDIRECTION, A SECOND FLAG LOCATED UNDER SAID FIRST FLAG AND MOVABLESUBSTANTIALLY IN THE VERTICAL DIRECTION, MEANS TO SUPPORT SAID FIRSTFLAG ON SAID ARMATURE WHEN SAID ELECTROMAGNET IS DEENERGIZED AND CAUSESAID FIRST FLAG TO DISENGAGE SAID ARMATURE AND DROP WHEN SAIDELECTROMAGNET IS ENERGIZED, CONFIRMING MEANS WHICH WHEN ACTUATEDOPERATES TO PUSH UP BOTH OF SAID FLAGS AND MEANS TO SUPPORT SAID SECONDFLAG ON SAID ARMATURE WHEN SAID SECOND FLAG IS PUSHED UP BY SAIDCONFIRMING MEANS DURING THE PERIOD OF ENERGIZATION OF SAID ELECTROMAGNETWHEREBY THE POSITION OF SAID FLAGS INDICATES THE CONDITION OF SAIDCONTROLLED MEANS OR THE CONFIRMATION OF SAID CONDITION.